I'll Be Home for Christmas
by Edger230
Summary: Takes place after Weirdmaggedon (assuming all goes well.) Dipper and Mabel return to Gravity Falls for Christmas. Wendy wants to tell Dipper how she feels, Mabel has a special gift for Dipper, Wendy and Soos, Mr. and Mrs. Pines have a big surprise for the twins, and Stan and Ford are, well, Stan and Ford. DipperXWendy. Rated T because I don't know.
1. Chapter 1

**Takes place after Weirdmageddon (assuming all goes well.)**

 **I'm finally back and writing another Gravity Falls fanfic! Believe it or not, I actually began working on this one two years ago! I scrapped it after a while due to not getting it out before Christmas and several things changing on the show, but I saw an opportunity this year and managed to bring it back! If I don't get this finished before Christmas comes, I apologize. I'll do my best to make sure I do though!**

 **On with the story!**

It was a cold afternoon in Gravity Falls, Oregon. There was a fresh blanket of snow on the ground, more was still coming down gently, and the best part was, it was Christmas Eve! Wendy was currently in the living room of the Mystery Shack, hanging up the last of the Christmas decorations while listening to the radio, which at the moment was playing _Christmas Cannon_ by Trans-Siberian Orchestra **(A.N. My all-time favorite Christmas song.)**

Now you're probably wondering what Wendy's doing at work on Christmas Eve. Well Stan and Ford decided to have a Christmas celebration that evening- which included a gift exchange- and Soos and Wendy had been invited. Her father had been against it at first, insisting she continue with her yearly apocalypse training (which she had found absolutely ridiculous since the apocalypse had literally just happened that summer and she- as well as the town- had clearly made it out alive,) but she had managed to convince him by promising to make up for it later in January. In a way, this was going to be her first real Christmas!

However, even though she was excited to finally be able to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year, the thing Wendy was the most excited for was the whole reason that Stan and Ford had planned a Christmas celebration in the first place; Dipper and Mabel were coming back and spending Christmas- as well as New Year's- at the Mystery Shack! She couldn't wait to see them. Gravity Falls had become so boring without them causing trouble and occasionally saving the town from the occasional supernatural creature. Though Wendy had still hung out with her other friends, it wasn't as much fun as going on crazy adventures with the now thirteen year old twins. However, the one she wanted to see most of all was Dipper. Oh sure, Mabel was awesome. She was like the little sister Wendy had never had and there was never a dull moment with her, but she wanted to see Dipper for a special reason.

Though she had turned him down when he had confessed his feelings for her that summer- due to both their age differences and the fact that he was pretty much her best friend- since the moment Dipper had left for the school year, a part of Wendy's heart felt strangely… empty. No matter what she was doing, she could never seem to stop thinking about him. Sometimes it actually hurt that he was gone. She realized she hadn't felt this way when any of her former boyfriends weren't around. Not even Robbie had given her that feeling in the past. She realized to her shock, delight, and slight regret due to what had happened last time feelings were exchanged, that she was in love with Dipper. She felt on top of the world when she heard that he, Mabel and their parents were coming for Christmas. She could finally tell Dipper how she felt.

She couldn't deny though that she was scared as well. She had broken Dipper's heart when she had turned him down, even if she had done it in the best way possible way. What would he think when she suddenly told him that she had been wrong? What if she was too late and he didn't have feelings for her anymore? Would HE turned HER down this time? Would he feel betrayed? Would he hate her?!

Wendy's stomach suddenly started flip flopping like she was on a roller coaster. Would she really be able to work up the courage to confess to Dipper? …Wait, what kind of question was that? She was a flippin' Corduroy for Pete's sake! If she could survive Weirdmaggedon, she could survive a simple confession of her feelings.

Before her worries could mess with her again, Wendy heard a car pull up into the drive. Her face lit up as she quickly grabbed her green coat, blue scarf, and blue mittens. She dashed out the door to find Mabel sprinting towards her. She was in a pink coat with sparkles, purple mittens, one with a green M and one with a green P stitched into it, a purple scarf and a purple hat. Waddles was tagging along close behind her wearing a red hat and scarf that Mabel had probably knitted herself.

"Wendy! Merry Christmas!" she said. Wendy smiled and gave her a hug once she reached her, and she realized that Mabel had grown a few inches since the last time she'd seen her. Waddles grunted as if to say hello and Wendy pat him on the head.

"Merry Christmas to you too, squirt! It's so great to see you!" She then looked around. Mr. and Mrs. Pines had gotten out of the car and were unloading suitcases and presents from it, but where was Dipper?

Suddenly, Wendy looked back at the car just in time for a snowball to hit her in the face. She wiped it off to see Dipper behind the car in a blue coat, red mittens and his signature hat. He was laughing really hard.

"Got you Wendy!" he choked out in between laughs.

Wendy's heart skipped a beat when she saw him, but she put a mischievous smile on her face. "Oh, I hope you've had a fulfilling life, Dipper Pines, because I'm ending it today!" she said and began running after him, laughing. Dipper ran away laughing just as much as she was with a smile still glued to his face as well.

"I missed you too!" he shouted as he ran.

 _He missed me!_ Wendy thought.

"SNOWBALL FIGHT!" Mabel shouted and laughed at the same time.

Dipper and Mabel's parents went inside with the gifts and suitcases to help Stan and Ford set up and get dinner ready. Soos walked onto the porch to see what was going on with Wendy and the twins just in time to hear Mabel shout 'snowball fight.'

"I'm in!" he shouted, running inside to get his winter gear.

Meanwhile, Wendy was still chasing Dipper, both still laughing like crazy, until they both finally collapsed in the snow. It took quite a few deep breaths to get the air back in their bodies.

"Truce?" Dipper gasped.

"Truce." Wendy replied.

They finally sat up when they got enough air back. "It's really great to see you." Dipper said, smiling.

"You too." Wendy replied also smiling. Dipper stood up (and Wendy noticed that he had grown more than Mabel had,) helping her up as well. Wendy realized that they were alone. She figured she could tell him now.

"Dipper, there's something I need to tell you." she said as she brushed snow off of her hat.

Dipper's heart began to pound. It may have already been a few months since he had seen Wendy, but his crush on her still existed. He had tried his hardest to let it go, but he couldn't seem to no matter what he did. None of the girls back in California had had the capability to take his mind off of her, but none of them really knew that he was even alive anyway, except for Mabel of course.

He swallowed. "I'm listening." He said, hoping he didn't sound as nervous as he felt.

Wendy opened her mouth to speak, but before she got a single word out, she and Dipper were pelted with snowballs. Mabel and Soos were laughing like crazy as Dipper and Wendy dug themselves back out of the snow. At about that moment, they forgot about what Wendy was going to say and focused on the snowball fight. They looked at each other and nodded.

"Got you two!" said Mabel. She laughed some more until she noticed that the pair was smiling evilly at her and Soos with already constructed snowballs in their hands, which they had made while the two had been laughing.

"We'd better run." Soos said, and they took off with Dipper and Wendy close behind.

"Let's see if we can corner them!" Wendy said. Dipper nodded in reply.

It really was great to be back.

 **-Meanwhile-**

Mrs. Pines stood at the kitchen window watching her children roll around in the snow and pelt each other as well as their two friends with snowballs. Even though she couldn't hear it, she knew they were all laughing nonstop. It was probably below freezing weather outside and the twins kept getting snowballs thrown in their faces, but she doubted they even noticed the cold. It brought a smile to her face.

She remembered the day she and her husband came to pick them up from their long summer stay with their uncle. The kids had looked like they were on the verge of tears. After saying their goodbyes to Stand and Ford (who- Stan told them- had finally come back from his studies overseas) as well as the friends they were currently having a snowball fight with, the got into the car and said almost nothing the entire way home, watching the landscape roll by from the car windows. They sometimes whispered things to each other but that was about it.

In the months afterwards the two seemed closer than ever, always having each other's backs no matter what. They often kept in touch with their friends back in Oregon- Mabel adding two other girls, who her mother soon learned to be named Candy and Grenda, into the mix. Sometimes she would secretly listen in on their conversations with them and they both seemed much more lively when talking with them and often saying how much they wished they were back in Gravity Falls having adventures with them. Though she wasn't sure what they meant by "adventures," she knew that she and their father had made the right choice in sending them to the small town.

She turned back to her husband, who had just gotten off the phone. He smiled at her. "Everything's ready."

She smiled back and looked back out the window at the still laughing thirteen year olds. "They're going to love it."

To be continued


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! I'm so sorry it took me so long to get the next chapter up! Life kept getting in the way every time I tried to update!**

 **By the way, I'm not sure what Mr. and Mrs. Pines' names are, so I just made some up.**

 **-2 ½ hours later-**

"Hey kids! Get in here before you freeze to death!"

Grunkle Stan called the gang from the porch. They had finished their snowball fight when Dipper had finally gotten tired of how many times various snowballs had hit him in the face (Mabel had made a show of counting 48.) He had announced overdramatically that he was quitting snowball fights for life, though that was mostly just to make the others laugh (it worked.) They had all been making snowmen when Stan had come out to get them.

Dipper and Mabel looked up at the porch and suddenly remembered they hadn't greeted their uncle yet. "Grunkle Stan!" they shouted with excitement and ran to see the old man.

Due to Stan and Ford overcoming the problems with their pasts and making up, Stan continued to live at his brother's house. Though The Mystery Shack was no longer in business- after all, Ford still didn't agree with that- the two brothers had become close once more.

Once the two thirteen year olds reached their uncle, Mabel gave him a hug, which he returned. Even Dipper couldn't resist giving him a hug and Stan took his hat off and tousled his hair.

"How you doing, half pints?" he asked but then took a good look at the two of them and noticed that they had grown. "Whoa. You're not really half pints anymore! What the heck happened? It hasn't even been that long!"

Dipper and Mabel laughed. "We're growing up, Grunkle Stan!" Mabel proudly stated.

"I'd argue, but your height says otherwise! How much can you two grow in four months?" Stan replied, scratching the top of his head. He then turned to Dipper. "Geeze, kid! You're taller than your sister now!" he said, looking the teenage boy up and down. Dipper flushed with pride.

Mabel groaned. "Well, it was good while it lasted."

"Who's the alpha twin now?" Dipper teased his sister. Before he even had time to think, she quickly retaliated with yet another snowball to his face, the impact causing him to fall off the porch.

"From the looks of it, still me!" Mabel laughed and skipped into the shack. Stan followed in after her, laughing as well. Soos tagged along close behind the two of them.

Though Dipper was slightly humiliated as he brushed the remaining snow off of his face, he couldn't help but laugh as he fanned out his arms and legs creating a snow angel. He stared up at the sky. By now the snow had stopped falling, but it had left a seven inch blanket behind. Though a couple of trees were in the way, he could still easily make out the beautiful stars, and even managed to find his birthmark among them. He could never see this many back in California. The sight truly was amazing. It wasn't long before an outstretched hand partially blocked the sky's glowing wonders. He craned his head back a bit to see Wendy standing above him smiling and smiled back at her.

 _When you have someone as beautiful as her, you don't really need the stars,_ he thought to himself as he took her hand. Said girl pulled him back onto his feet.

"You ok, dork?" she asked with a smile.

Dipper laughed once more. "Yeah, I'm good." He then frowned. "Do you have to keep calling me 'dork?'" he asked.

The red head responded by pulling his hat over his eyes. "No, but I'm still going to." Dipper laughed in response as he readjusted his hat.

"Let's get inside. I don't know about you but I'm starving!" Wendy said.

Dipper nodded back but realization then struck him. "Oh, Wendy!"

Wendy had been going up the stairs but stopped at the thirteen year old's call. "Yeah?"

"What were you going to tell me earlier?"

Wendy's heart began to pound again, but she did her best to ignore it as she felt the color rise into her cheeks. "I was going to-"

"Dipper, Wendy, you coming in?" another voice asked. Dipper turned to see his other uncle. Wendy sighed internally. Another shot gone.

"Great Uncle Ford!" Dipper smiled and ran to greet the other old man. "How have things been here? Did you find any new creatures? Are there even any left after what happened? Oh! And what about the aliens? Did they have any connections?"

Ford chuckled. Dipper may have grown but his fascinations with the supernatural wonders of their world as well as the ones beyond were still the same. Wendy noticed this too and smiled. He was still the same boy she had fallen in love with.

"Trust me; there will be plenty of time to talk about that later." Ford replied. "For now, you two had best head inside. Dinner's almost ready." The two younger ones did as he said, ditching their winter gear by the door.

They reached the kitchen to find a variety of foods on the kitchen counter. There was a full size turkey, a basket full of rolls, sweet potatoes, various vegetables, a few different soups, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, and an array of desserts. Everyone other than them was already putting food on their plates. The two of them quickly joined in.

After Dipper got all the turkey he wanted, he headed for the rolls. As he reached to grab one, Wendy happened to reach for the same one he did. As soon as their hands connected, they looked at each other and blushed.

"Um, go ahead." Dipper said.

"No that's ok. You can take it." she replied, rubbing the back of her neck and grabbing a different one.

Dipper looked down at his plate, trying not to look back at his crush. _Stop making this awkward, man! It's not that big a deal!_ Though he told himself this, he still couldn't work up the courage to look at her again.

The two of them sat down next to each other. Wendy looked at Dipper out of the corner of her eye and felt her heart begin to pound once more. _What is wrong with you Corduroy? It's just Dipper!_ Wendy told herself internally. _He's your best friend! Why do you have to get so nervous just because you're in love with him?!_

"You guys want some Mabel Casserole?" Mabel asked breaking the two of them out of their thoughts. The thirteen year old girl was holding up a weird looking, bright and multi colored dish. "It has a free toy inside!"

Dipper sighed. "No thanks. Last time I ate some of that Dad had to give me the Heimlich to get the free toy out of my wind pipe." Their father sighed irritably, enjoying the memory as much as his son was. Wendy had to stifle a laugh at Dipper's comment.

"Has Mabel always made such strange concoctions?" Ford asked, looking up from his plate.

"For as long as I can remember." Dipper groaned.

"You guys don't know what you're talking about!" Mabel objected, putting down the casserole. "Someday, my dishes are going to be world famous!"

"Yeah, world famous _health hazards_." Stan muttered, making sure his niece didn't hear him.

"Well, it's really awesome that you guys are back in town." Wendy said, deciding it best to change the subject. Dipper and Mabel smiled in return, the former blushing a bit.

"It's awesome to _be_ back." Dipper said.

"The place wasn't the same without you two causing trouble!" Stan added.

"Well, to be fair, you probably caused more trouble than they did." Ford joked with a smile.

"Aw, can it, Poindexter!" Stan said also with a smile, elbowing his brother in rebuttal. The younger twins, Soos and Wendy all laughed at the two of them.

Mrs. Pines laughed as well. "You're joking, right?" she asked.

"Oh, yes, of course." Ford quickly agreed.

"Well, things are going to be a lot more fun now that you're here." Wendy said.

"Yeah, things have been so boring since Weirdmageddon." Soos agreed nonchalantly. Everyone at the table suddenly froze in place except for Soos and Mr. and Mrs. Pines.

"What's Weirdmageddon?" Mr. Pines asked.

"Well it was-" Soos began but suddenly stopped when he saw his friends. Dipper was zipping his lips over and over, Wendy was making a cutting motion across her neck, Mabel was making a 'no' motion with her arms, and Stan and Ford were shaking their heads frantically.

"I-I shouldn't talk about it." Soos said, getting the message and began stuffing his mouth with turkey.

Since Dipper and Mabel's parents weren't idiots, they turned to look at their children. "What's Weirdmageddon?" their father repeated skeptically. The twins began to sweat.

"It's… uh…" Dipper stammered.

"It's was…" Mabel said, desperately trying to think of something.

"It's a game!" Wendy suddenly chimed in. Everyone looked at her.

"A game?" Mr. Pines repeated.

"Uh, yeah. The four of us made it up. The idea was that we were all characters trying to survive the apocalypse. I-It was just pretend."

The parents nodded, believing her story. "Well, why is it called 'Weirdmageddon?'" Mrs. Pines asked.

"Um, we would come up with weird supernatural creatures that tried to hunt us down!" Dipper added.

"Yeah!" Mabel agreed. "There was a head attached to an arm that tried to eat us, giant eyeballs with wings that froze things, a giant walking set of teeth, a-" Dipper quickly elbowed his sister, signaling their parents got the idea.

"We just figured it was a suitable name in the end." Dipper finished.

"Well, why didn't Soos want to talk about it?" Mr. Pines inquired.

"Oh, he uh… lost the game a lot." Wendy said.

"I did?" Soos asked as he stopped stuffing his face.

Wendy nodded, sending him a look that meant _just play along_. "Yeah, he grew kind of irritated about it."

"Oh, yeah! I did!" Soos agreed and attempted to act angry. "It totally wasn't fair!"

Before any more questions could be asked, Mr. Pines' phone buzzed.

"Oh, excuse me everyone, I need to take this." he said after looking at his phone screen. He then turned to his wife. "Hannah, will you join me in the living room real quick?" Mrs. Pines nodded and got up to join her husband.

The second the parents left the kitchen, everyone else let out a sigh of relief. "That was way too close." Dipper whispered.

"Nice cover by the way, Wendy." Mabel whispered to the fifteen year old.

"No problem." Wendy whispered back.

"You haven't told your parents what happened?" Soos asked the twins also in a whisper.

"Oh yeah! How do you think _that_ would go down? 'Hey mom and dad, what did you guys do this summer? Us? We brought on and stopped the APOCALYPSE!'" Dipper was doing his best to stay quiet.

"I agree. It's best they don't know the truth." Ford said.

"Besides, even if we did tell them it's not like they'd believe us anyway." Mabel agreed and everyone continued to work on their dinners.

"So what do you think that phone call was about?" Wendy asked after a little while.

"I don't know. They've been getting a lot of those lately. They've also been doing a lot of paper work." Dipper said.

"We've asked them about it, but they've been pretty secretive." Mabel added.

"They won't tell you anything?" Stan asked.

"Not a word." Dipper replied.

"What do you think it is?" Wendy asked. Dipper shrugged.

"Maybe they're transferring us to another school." said Mabel.

"I don't know. It would be kind of pointless since we're going to high school next year anyway." Dipper remarked.

"Yeah I guess." Mabel said, picking at her food.

Mr. and Mrs. Pines walked back into the room at about that time.

"Sorry about that." Mr. Pines said. "Just a call from work." The two then sat back down and resumed eating.

Dipper and Mabel looked at each other, both pretty sure their parents were lying, but both unsure of what the real situation could be. With no ideas, the two resumed eating, talking and laughing with the rest of their family.

 **To be continued...**

 **Random note: you know what would be a cool crossover? Gravity Falls and Gremlins!**

 **Just thought I'd put that out there!**

 **Hope you guys liked this chapter! Read and review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I know I'm super late when I say this, but thank you Alex Hirsch for giving me one of my favorite cartoons of all time! I will really miss it!**

 **A couple things before I begin. One, I'm so sorry this took me so long! I pretty much disappeared from fanfiction for almost a year at one point. Not a single day has gone by in my life then when I didn't have to get something done. I feel bad because I know you guys wanted the next chapter sooner than this. For Pete's sake, I'm not only updating my Christmas story over a year after it came out, but I'm updating it in summer! I hope you guys don't mind.**

 **Another thing; since the show had some differences from this story like Stan and Ford going on their trip around the world (which was AWESOME) and Soos running the shack (which was equally AWESOME) this story will just be a minor AU.**

 **Finally, one of my biggest issues with this chapter was whether or not to include a scene where the gang opens their presents. Eventually I decided to skip it since it wouldn't add much to what I had planned for the story. I'll still be showing a couple of the presents, but the only one I'll show being opened is a specific one from Mabel to her brother, Soos and Wendy that I mentioned in the description.**

 **Well, I've kept you waiting long enough. Here's the next update!**

Eventually the dishes were cleared of food and everyone was stuffed. Even Mabel's casserole had a few pieces missing. Soos had tried some for curiosity's sake and Wendy had tried some after Dipper dared her to. Neither had liked it, but they made sure to dispose of it undercover to spare Mabel's feelings. The four friends continued to converse until the adults reminded them of the presents waiting for them in the other room. They were there in less than 5 seconds.

The Christmas tree was big and glowing. It was covered in blinking multi-colored lights and several different ornaments. There were the traditional ones like candy canes, different colored balls and a golden garland, but there were also several different additions like little trinkets that had been left over from the Mystery Shack gift shop. Soos had even put together some mini replicas of the Shack's old exhibits with left over taxidermy parts.

The twins and their parents had each brought a present for everyone in the room. They didn't bring their own presents for each other though since they were saving those for Christmas morning. Everyone else brought presents for the entire group. All of the gifts were torn into once the last person sat down and no one was disappointed.

As the last of the presents were opened, Mabel ended up wearing at least ten bows from the gifts in her hair and had styled them similar to a Mohawk.

"I call it, the Bow-hawk!" she said, striking several poses as if a camera crew was taking pictures of her.

Dipper looked up from his gifts and couldn't resist chuckling. "You and your fashion trends," he said.

Mabel suddenly donned a mischievous smile. "I bet you would look good with one, Bro!"

Dipper's smile disappeared. "No! No! No!"

He immediately sprang from his seat and ran out of the room still screaming 'no' while Mabel ran after him with over twenty more bows.

Wendy laughed. "Don't fight it, Dipper!" she shouted after him.

"I hate you, Wendy!" she heard him shout.

"No you don't!"

She proceeded to look over her gifts, her favorite one being from both Dipper and Mabel. It was a sketchbook with a picture of an axe on the cover and inside there were various drawings done by the two of them of all of their adventures together over the summer. Dipper had mostly drawn pictures of them fighting the Shapeshifter, the ghosts at Dusk2Dawn and their battles during Weirdmageddon. It was easy to tell which pictures were Mabel's doing since she tended to exaggerate most of the details of their adventures. One example of which was a picture of Wendy standing atop the dead Shapeshifter holding a sword like King Arthur after he had pulled it from the stone. Next to that, Dipper and Soos were standing in awe (Dipper's mouth having been drawn so long it hit the ground) and Mabel cheering for her, complete with pompoms and a cheerleader's uniform.

As she was admiring the pictures, Mabel strutted back into the room, her "Bow-hawk" having been slightly messed up from her struggle with her brother.

"Presenting, the BRO Bow-hawk!" she announced gesturing to the doorway.

"I'm not doing this." Dipper said from behind the wall.

"Come on Dip, you look awesome!" Mabel said.

"I look STUPID!"

"Come on dude," Soos encouraged. "You can't look THAT bad!"

"Please don't make me do this." Dipper begged.

"Dipper! Dipper! Dipper!" Wendy began to chant. Everyone else quickly followed suit.

Finally an annoyed groan was heard and Dipper slowly walked into the room, his face basically saying 'kill me now'. Mabel had removed his hat and plastered bows in a long line down his hair and part of his back. Everyone tried to hold in their laughter, but failed after about three seconds, making Dipper feel even more humiliated.

"Oh my goodness; both of you stand next to each other!" Mrs. Pines said, pulling her phone out.

"Mom, PLEASE don't take a picture!" Dipper cried as Mabel put an arm around her twin. Mrs. Pines snapped a few photos against her son's wishes, none of which he smiled for.

Mabel let go of her brother, who walked over to his Grunkle's chair and sank into it, muttering something no one could understand under his breath. Mabel gathered up all of the wrapping paper and fell backwards attempting to make a snow angel out of it. All of the sudden she sat up.

"Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed. "How could I forget?"

"Forget what?" Wendy asked, mildly worried.

"I have something I need to show you guys! I'll be right back!" Mabel replied, dashing out of the room. Ford looked at the mess of paper his niece had left behind.

"We should probably clean all this up," he remarked.

"Way ahead of you, Sixer!" Stan replied. "Soos! Clean this up!"

"You got it, Mr. Pines!" Soos replied, and set to work gathering up the strips of wrapping paper. Ford rolled his eyes at his brother.

Mrs. Pines' phone suddenly buzzed. She picked it up and read the message on it. It almost looked like she was trying not to smile as she showed the message to her husband.

"Stan, Ford, can Alex and I talk to you guys for a minute?" Mrs. Pines asked, pointing to the other room. The older twins nodded and they along with Dipper and Mabel's parents walked out.

Wendy, once again, couldn't help but wonder what was going on. She turned her attention back to Dipper, wondering if he was curious too but found he was too distracted by having trouble removing the bows from his hair.

She smiled. "Hold still; I'll help you," she said.

She sat down next to him and began helping him untangle the multi colored bows. The more she helped him, the less upset Dipper felt, until finally his negative feelings fell away along with the decorations that had been on his head.

It was about that moment that the two realized how close they were to each other. Both of their faces had gone red but neither said a word and continued to remove the bows from Dipper's head. When the last of them had been removed, Wendy moved a little further back and sat down next to her crush.

"I really like that book you and Mabel made me," she said.

Dipper smiled. "It was actually Mabel's idea, though I had to talk her out of using her glitter supply."

Wendy smiled. "What's so bad about a little glitter?"

"Because with Mabel, it's never less than five pounds." They both shared a laugh.

There was silence for a minute as the two watched the lights on the Christmas tree blink on and off. Something about them was just so hypnotizing and beautiful. Finally realizing they were alone once again, Wendy took a quick look at both doors to make sure no one was coming.

"Dipper, I need to tell-"

"Found it!" Mabel cried, skipping into the room.

Wendy bit her lip in frustration. How many times was she going to be interrupted?!

Having no clue she had squashed Wendy's third attempt at a confession, Mabel sat down on the floor, Soos following close behind her. Wendy and Dipper noticed she was carrying four small boxes in her arms and moved down to the floor to sit next to her and Soos.

"I've got one last present for you guys," Mabel said after her brother and friends were situated. She gave each of them one of the boxes, there also being one she held onto herself. Each of the boxes had a tiny bow on top of it and a little tag that stated the owner's names. None of the boxes were wrapped so they could be opened easily.

"On the count of three," Mabel continued, "we'll all open them together ok?"

Everyone nodded in response. "One, two, three!"

They all opened their boxes at once and each of them found the same thing inside. On a small foam cushion were four necklaces, each of them having a gold colored pendant that looked like a puzzle piece. They all had letters on them too, but Dipper, Soos and Wendy quickly realized the letters weren't their initials. Dipper had received a letter A, Soos a letter T and Wendy a letter M.

"They're beautiful Mabel, but why do they have these letters on them?" Wendy asked.

Mabel smiled and took out her own necklace, which had a letter E on it.

"Can I see them real quick?" she asked. They handed her them and she lay them in a row on the ground.

"The pendants are puzzle pieces and they all connect! When they do they form…" She connected the pieces together and her friends smiled when they read the word TEAM.

"That's not even the best part though!" Mabel exclaimed, giving each person their necklace back. "The pendants are also lockets! Open them up!"

The three did as they were told and found a picture of themselves inside their lockets. A closer look revealed that these weren't just any old pictures though. This was the last picture they had taken of themselves together before Dipper and Mabel left Gravity Falls.

"I wanted each of us to have one of these so that way, no matter where we are, our team is still connected," Mabel said, bringing a smile to everyone's face as they all put their individual necklaces on.

Wendy stuck her hand out into the middle of their circle. "To the team!"

Her friends stuck out their hands as well, piling them on top of each other. "To the team!" they all said and raised their hands in unison.

"Hey kids?"

Everyone turned around to see Dipper and Mabel's parents along with Stan and Ford standing in the doorway.

"Can you get your coats on? Your father and I have somewhere we need to take you." Mrs. Pines said.

Dipper and Mabel exchanged a confused look. They looked at their parents' faces as well as their great uncles'. They almost seemed excited.

"Can Soos and Wendy come with us?" Dipper asked.

"If they want to," Mr. Pines replied.

The twins turned to look at Soos and Wendy, who nodded and each gave them a smile. The four of them got up from the floor and went to get their coats, wondering what the four adults had up their sleeves.

 **To be continued…**

 **The adult's secret will be revealed in the next chapter!**

 **Side not, yes of course I named the Dipper and Mabel's dad Alex. I had to!**

 **Read and review!**


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